MBChB (University of Auckland), PhD in Medicine (University of Otago), Ngāpuhi. Professor Matire Harwood is the Deputy Dean for the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland; and continues to practice one day a week as a General Practitioner/Family Physician. She has served on several national Boards and Advisory Committees in New Zealand including Waitematā District Health Board, Health Research Council, COVID-19 Technical Advisory Group and Primary Care Strategy at the Ministry of Health and the Māori Advisory Committee to New Zealand’s Minister of Health. Matire has been recognised for her work with numerous awards across research, teaching and leadership. These include the 2017 L’Oréal UNESCO New Zealand ‘For Women In Science Fellowship’ for research in Indigenous health, the Health Research Council’s Te Tohu Rapuora award in 2019 for leadership in research to improve Māori health, the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners Community Service Medal in 2022 and the Butland Award in 2023 for Excellence in Research Supervision. She received the King’s Service Medal in June 2024 for her contribution to Māori health. She has 180+ publications, teaches in the medical programme and supervises postgraduate students.

Professor McMurray is currently Professor of Medical Cardiology and honorary Consultant Cardiologist at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow. Professor McMurray served as the inaugural Eugene Braunwald Scholar in Cardiovascular Disease at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, and visiting Professor of Medicine, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts USA 2010/2011. He is a Past-President of the Heart Failure Association of the ESC. He is a Highly Cited Researcher and has a H-index of >200. He is and has been involved in many guideline committees, including chairing the Task Force for 2012 ESC Guidelines on heart failure and was a member of the 2016 and 2021 Task Forces. Professor McMurray is an Associate Editor for JACC-Heart Failure and is also a member of the editorial board of several journals including the European Journal of Heart Failure, Diabetes Care and the New England Journal of Medicine, and Guest Editor for Circulation & Circulation: Heart Failure. He is the Congress Programme Committee Chair for the European Society of Cardiology 2023/2024 and European Society of Cardiology Board Member. Professor McMurray was a member of the recent European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Task Force that created a policy on gender and the NEJM policy group on diversity in research studies. He has won several awards, including the Stokes Medal of the Irish Cardiac Society. In June 2015, Professor John McMurray and Professor Salim Yusuf (McMaster University, Hamilton Ontario, Canada) were jointly awarded the 8th Arrigo Recordati International Prize for Scientific Research (for outstanding contributions in secondary prevention and risk reduction strategies in patients with cardiovascular diseases). Professor McMurray is the recipient of the Mackenzie Medal, which is awarded by the British Cardiovascular Society in recognition of outstanding service to British Cardiology. He is also the recipient of the Louis and Artur Lucian Award for Research in Circulatory Diseases, which is awarded each year by McGill University, Montreal. This international award recognises outstanding research in the field of circulatory diseases by a scientific investigator, or group of investigators, whose contribution to knowledge in this field is deemed worthy of special recognition. Professor McMurray was awarded an (honorary) OBE in 2019 by Her Majesty the Queen, in recognition of his services to cardiovascular research. In 2020 he was awarded the Gold Medal of the European Society of Cardiology, which the society describes as “the highest honour it can bestow on exceptional scientists for their contribution to cardiovascular medicine”. In 2021 Professor McMurray received the Rigshospitalet’s International KFJ Award. In 2023 he was made an honorary fellow of the Japanese Circulation Society. Professor McMurray has been invited to lecture widely at many international congresses and delivered many several named lectures.

Dr Kenneth Cho is an electrophysiology fellow at the Alfred Hospital and PhD candidate with The Baker Heart and Diabetes Research Institute, University of Melbourne. His research is supported by the NHMRC Postgraduate Research Scholarship and focuses on improving outcomes for patients with atrial fibrillation.

Anika Deva is a fifth-year medical student at the University of New South Wales with a strong passion for cardiology. Their primary interests lie in mechanical circulatory support and the evolving role of advanced cardiac technologies in patient care. Her abstract is from her honours thesis, completed at St. Vincent's Hospital Sydney, under the supervision of A/Prof Kavitha Muthiah and Prof Christopher Hayward.

Dr Hari Sritharan is a Research and Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology Fellow at Royal North Shore Hospital. He is pursuing a PhD at the University of Sydney, where his research focuses on the clinical translation of machine learning and artificial intelligence in cardiovascular disease. His research is supported by Heart Research Australia.

Muhammed is a PhD student in the Biomarker Discovery and Heart Failure Research labs. Under the guidance of Professor David Kaye and Associate Professor Bing Wang, Muhammed’s PhD focusses on clinically relevant animal models of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). Namely, utilising these pre-clinical models to better understand the pathophysiology of the syndrome, elucidate novel biomarkers and therapeutics interventions to treat the condition

Dr Nikki Bart is a heart failure and heart transplant cardiologist at St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney and Clinical Faculty at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute.

Dr Bayat is a consultant cardiologist sub-specialised in advanced heart failure, cardiac transplantation and mechanical circulatory support at The Prince Charles Hospital. She has more than eight years of experience working as a consultant cardiologist and Director of CCU overseas. She is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Queensland. She also leads research in advanced heart failure and is a PhD candidate at The University of Queensland, researching novel strategies for managing patients with heart failure